Hi Hypnomamas! I finally got my daughter’s birth story written. It’s long (two parts), but I wanted to send you all the links in case anyone is interested in taking a read.

While I DID use Hypnobabies lingo, I never gave any BOP warnings, so I’ll just say this:

We ended up having to change our plans about 68 hours into my birthing time. My biggest fear was being a hospital transfer, but after doing some fear clearing and re-focusing my goal on having the healthiest, safest birth possible (not just a natural birth), my fears completely subsided.

I did end up going to the hospital, but it was still such an amazing, wonderful experience! If any of you are like I was and really fear a change in plans, reading my story might help you get past some of those fears. I can’t even begin to explain how much Hypnobabies still helped me and empowered me to have an amazing birth, even though it went differently than what I had planned.

Since our moms ask for this information all the time in classes, I am sharing how I organized and loaded the Hypnobabies CD tracks into my iPOD as a backup for my hypno-doula clients:

I loaded most of the titles as a separate playlist or album, so that they didn’t automatically play the next title when one ended, and I labeled each track with the same ‘artist’/Kerry Tuschhoff, and the same ‘genre’/Hypnobabies so that they would sort into a Hypnobabies only album/play list.

The only exception to that is the Relaxation Music CD…I loaded all three tracks on one playlist so that they will play one after the other continuously, and I don’t have to restart the music so often when I am playing it aloud in the room.

This list is in the order that moms typically listen to their CDs in their birthing times:

Early birthing time???…or for practice, if mom’s not even sure ‘this is it’ yet…
“Relaxation Music”…all 3 tracks in one playlist to play continuously, while using the finger-drop
“Birthing Day Affirmations”…also very early on while using the finger-drop
“Special Place”…to reinforce this in your mind early in your birthing time
“Easy, Comfortable Childbirth”…for the same reason
If you’d like, you could also load your…
“Visualize/Create Your Hypnobabies Birth” (the last Hypnobabies class birth partner’s script) some moms like to listen to this one during their early birthing time).

Active First Stage… moms KNOW they’re having the baby TODAY…
“Fear Release/Fear Clearing”…to get rid of any ‘what ifs’ about this baby’s birthing, and to reinforce your Bubble of Peace
“Deepening”…to deepen your ability to enter hypnosis using your finger-drop and ‘Release’ cue, and to reinforce your ‘Peace’ cue for instant physical comfort.

When moms begin to know that they need a little something different or more to listen to (to deepen their relaxation, their hypnosis and to create more powerful anesthesia as a result, and for the car ride…
“Easy First Stage” (from the “Birth Guide” CD)

As soon as moms begin to feel any pushy pressure/second stage…this track plays out loud in the room…
“Pushing Baby Out” (also from the “Birth Guide” CD)

Thanks to Kari from the Hypnobabies Yahoo Group for sharing her story with us!

Wow…I can’t believe the time has come for me to post my very own birth story! I wasn’t sure I was going to have a very exciting birth story to tell… it was!!!

This was my third baby girl, but my very first all natural hypnobabies birth! I’m so happy to be apart of the elite woman who have a natural birth, it’s very empowering!!

Chloe’s ETA was September 22nd, but I had anticipated her arrival to be the weekend before, sometime between the 17th and the 19th. I even told my best friend the month before to make her trip out from Utah that weekend… so she did. We usually have our babies on weekends and I couldn’t imagine her coming the weekend AFTER her guess date so it had to be this weekend!

I kept myself SUPER busy all week walking with friends,doing pre-school stuff with my 4 yr old, and making hair-bows for my THREE girls! I decided to make the last days nice and fun! I’m SO glad I did.

I had a Dr. appt. on Friday the 17th, where the doctor checked me and I was 60% effaced and 2 cm (nothing different for me during the last weeks of pregnancy). I ran some errands with my mom, Home Depot, health food store, etc. (We live in the SanBernardino Mountains in California, so trips up and down the mountain take about 45 minutes, so we do major shopping when we’re down there). I had been experiencing lots of Braxton Hicks all week (as well as other changes in my body that told me she was coming soon) nothing to complain about, but they were starting to change a bit while walking around with my mom. I didn’t think much of it though, didn’t want to get my hopes up. I wanted Chloe to come when she was ready…even though I had felt readyfor a while! We got home about 7 pm. On the drive up I felt the PW’s had more of a pattern and they felt a bit more like real PWs, but still didn’t think this was it. I picked up my two girls from my dad and took them home to get ready for bed.

Once home I just did all the normal stuff, feeling the wavesbut not really giving them much thought. After my girls were in bed, my husband and I watched TV and I told him that maybe we should get some stuff packed because I was having waves about every10 minutes. So I started getting my things ready. I decided that I should try to sleep a little and listen to Hypnobabies. I did for a bit, but I had to keep going to the bathroom. I was also more uncomfortable. So, I decided I should get my kids bag packed. As I was walking around getting things together for them I started feeling them very close together, but thought it was just because I was walking a lot (they felt like a side ache from running, just in the front lower part of my abdomen.)

I still was unsure if this was it! I told my husband I was going to call his mom, he told me to wait because he didn’t think it was time yet either. But, I called her anyway around midnight she is a Labor and Delivery Nurse and I told her I wasn’t sure if I should go down to the hospital or not. She asked how close together they were and I told her they felt about 1-2 minutes apart. I was starting to have to focus now. She told me she would come to sleep with my babies and that we shouldn’t wait around any longer. She lives 5 minutes away, but in the meantimeI decided I should try to make the nurses some brownies to keep my mind off of the PWs. She arrived and told me she would finish the brownies for me and we needed to go. I called my sister and parents and told them we were going down, that my waves were about 1-2 minutes apart and I’d call once I knew if this was it or not.

My husband and I left about 1 am. The car ride down was a little rough with all the turns, but I listened to Hypnobabies and held my lavender and chamomile pillows to my face. I remember feeling SO good once a wave had passed and making sure my body was nice and loose during them. I told myself to “open”.

We arrived at the hospital about 1:45, they checked me and I was 5 cm! “What,really??” I still couldn’t believe this was it! My parents and sister arrived about 10 minutes after us, then soon after them my brother and his wife showed up. (Even though I told them all we’d call them… oh well, it was good they got there when they did!) My PWs were starting to come one after the other. I was so proud of how I was handling them. I felt a little agitated with my family just sitting there starring at me I really only wanted my sister and husband in there but I felt bad because I didn’t want to hurt my mom’s feelings (she’d been there for my other two, so just put the pillow over my face and stayed inside myself.

At one point my mom said, “You can always change your mind and get the epidural!” Annoyed, I told her to “Shush or get out!” I wasn’t in that kind of pain, I was just focused and occasionally moaned and whispered “relax, peace, peace, peace,peace”. I told my mom that the moaning was helping me feel better. I could feel my body trembling a bit and knew that my body was entering transition. I was looking forward to it, but not sure what to expect. The nurse came to check again, I was a 6 with a bulging bag. She asked how I felt about having my water broken because sometimes things can slow down because the baby’s head can’t get into the birth canal with the bag in the way. I was starting to feel like I wanted this to be over very soon so I said sure.

The Doctor came in and checked me about 5 minutes later, I was a 7 and the water broke, *BOP* Right when that happened my body went from having PWs to a HUGE pushing feeling which was extremely intense. I had never felt what it was like to feel the pushing waves and I got a little scared. Right after the 1st pushing wave the doctor still had her hand in there and said, “Whoa, this baby wants out NOW!” She said I was now a 9 and she was stretching things out…it was VERY uncomfortable and I told her to get her hand out of there! She apologized and began getting ready for the birth.

With each pushing wave my body just pushed on its own. With the first one I lost my focus and never really got it back because everything was happening so fast. (editor’s note:Since her second stage went so quickly they didn’t have time to play “Push Your Baby Out” out loud in the room for her…and it sounds like next time she’ll know to have it cued and ready to go sooner!) My husband, sister and mom had never seen me birth this way so they didn’t really know what to do or say so I had no one to bring me back and try to relax me more. The sensations were very intense and I definitely was not able to stay quiet throughout them, I have to admit I let out a few choice words (and I’m not a “truck driver” kind of person)and about 3-4 pushes later Chloe was out!

I was very happy it was over, and VERY happy that I had her naturally. Actually even though it was quick and intense I was happy it was quick rather than LONG and intense. MY husband joked that he’d stood in longer lines at Disneyland!!

Chloe was born at 3:36 am on September 18th,just two hours after we arrived at the hospital! She weighed 8 lbs and was 21 inches. She’s the perfect mix of her older sisters Madison(4) and Riley (2). She’s the sweetest little baby… We’re all obsessed with her! Everyone was amazed that I predicted her birth so well,especially my friend who drove all the way out from Utah!

I loved Hypnobabies! Everything happened almost EXACTLY how I had visualized it. Funny enough the only thing I had trouble visualizing throughout my pregnancy was the pushing phase, which ended up being the part where I lost focus. Even though I couldn’t think and get myself back once pushing it was a godsend during my pressure waves and made my entire pregnancy much more enjoyable. I couldn’t believe how relaxed I was, which made everything move so quickly. For my next birth I NOW know what it’s like to FEEL the baby coming out and I can focus more on making that experience a little less intense using my hypnosis. I still feel it was a WONDERFUL experience and a GREAT birth!

I loved being a part of this group and hearing all of your wonderful birth stories! If I could offer any advice it would be to really practice your visualizations and know that they make all the difference.

I have only lurked here (on the Yahoo Group) previously looking for inspiration, but I had a wonderful birth with my second child and wanted to share my story with others!

I had a rough first birth with what I now know were some unnecessary interventions, so I decided to have an unmedicated birth this time around! I happened upon Hypnobabies late in my pregnancy (35 weeks), but was able to get an accelerated schedule to ensure I would complete the program in time.

I was still a bit nervous… I had a doula, but she’d only worked with 2 clients who used Hypnobabies, and my husband didn’t make the time to familiarize himself with the birth partner info or run through scripts with me… (I don’t recommend doing things the way I did, but I do want to reassure people who can’t do things exactly like you are supposed to that the program may still work, anyway!). Although, I had a fast, easy birth, not sure what might have happened with a longer labor.

The day before my daughter was born, I saw my midwife, who asked if I wanted my membranes stripped. I was going to decline, but it was 5 days after my guess date and they said they would have to induce at 42 weeks, so I decided this was preferable to being given any drugs. It worked!

After cramping all night, I had bloody show and pressure waves began at 8:30 the next morning. They were 4-6 minutes apart. We called our doula, who said it sounded like early labor and asked me to call back if they intensified. My husband and I went for a walk, pressure waves intensified and we called the doula again at noon. She advised me to eat some fruit( I also had miso soup) and she arrived at 12:45. She still said it was early labor, so I put on my birthing day affirmations and kept walking up and down stairs and around the house.

I needed to lie down, so I listened to the easy first stage track and tried to relax. Pressure waves were 1 1/2 to 3 minutes apart. Our doula agreed it was time to go. My midwife said we could come to her office first. The car ride was hard, but I was listening to the easy first stage track during the half hour drive, which helped. The midwife said I was 7 cm dilated and we went to the hospital. Our nurse was great, dimming the lights, avoiding any mention of pain and at no point was I offered an epidural. Absolutely everything went according to my birth plan — I even skipped the IV and got to drink an electolyte drink — although I threw up as soon as I got in the room, so I didn’t want that much of it.

They had to monitor the baby for 20 minutes when I got there. My water broke, they said I was 10cm. I only had a few moments of panic( then I realized it was because everything was happening so fast, I forgot to listen to Hypnobabies!). Once we put it on, I literally felt all of the tension disappear and was very relaxed! I never needed to use eyes open hypnosis because I didn’t have the time to get out of bed! The midwife showed up, I needed to push, and after an hour total in the hospital, my daughter was born!

It was the best experience of my life! I keep reliving it and I feel really lucky! We were all doing so well that we left the hospital after just 24 hours!

Thanks to Melissa from the Hypnobabies Yahoo Group for sharing her birth story!

Zane was born Sept 18/10 at 5:44pm in his very own room in our home. I had been listening to the come out baby tracks for the last week as I did not want to be overdue (the ultrasounds were predicting a 9.5 lb baby at term)…. (my due date was Sept 19).

I had felt close to labour the whole last month as he was very low and I was getting a lot of braxton hicks/bowel cleansing/menstrual like aching (I was also taking a mixture from my naturopath for childbirth the last few weeks). I was sitting to pee and felt a small “snap”, not painful and thought it was perhaps my mucus plug…. nothing on the toilet paper, but then when i was up and moving around I realized that my water had broke. This was around 1:15pm and I started having contractions within 30 minutes.

They quickly became 3-5 min apart and so I called the midwife and she headed over (40 min drive away from me). I listened to the easy first stage track and kept moving around as I didn’t want anything to stall on me. When the midwife arrived around 3:45pm she checked me and I was soft and 6cm! At this point I was able to quite easily breathe through the contractions, trying different positions.

At about 4:45 they started getting more intense and I needed my husband nearby to work the cueing. I climbed into the tub at 5pm and within 10 minutes things became very intense….

I pushed for 20 minutes total, once he was around my pubic arch it could have gone fast but the midwives kept it slow so I would stretch easily. Once his head was out pushing his shoulders out was easy! Straight onto my chest and love at first sight. I used the EPI-NO with my first born and again with this birth and it did me well again, with no tearing or bruising at all. He weighed in at 8lbs 9oz (my first was 6lbs 11oz, so 2 lbs larger!).

Hypnobabies was so amazing for me. I suffer from an anxiety disorder and with my first birth I had an anxiety attack. Anyone who gets them knows that the biggest fear is having another one, especially when faced with the same situation. Hypnobabies kept me calm and I never felt the onset of the same anxiety during this labour. Preparing for the birth, if I started to get anxious at all it was so amazing to put on a track and relax my mind and body.

Although I had the short period of time during birthing where things were very intense and I wanted it to end, I was still not anxious. I visualized for myself a labour of under 4 hours and it was! Compared to my first delivery, where it was a 3 day ordeal and 14 hours of what was 30 minutes of this delivery, wow! It also gave my hubby better tools to help me with- straightforward and easy for him to learn and use.

We are doing great and the biggest challenge is the 2 year old sister adjustment. Be encouraged all those preparing, if you put the work in it will pay off! The next day visit with my midwife she remarked how surprised she was to find me 6cm and looking so comfortable…. just like what I had read about other women’s stories… yay for Hypnobabies!
I’m going to miss the tracks so I’m now going to go check out what they have for after baby comes!